Textile Techniques: Make your own Original Curtains
If you’re thinking about doing something crafty and creating a beautiful decor piece for the little nooks of your home, we’d like to show you some original ideas for creating your curtains using various techniques in our post today.
Making textiles, whether by weaving or knitting, is a long-standing activity that is evident in any home in some corner or another. Over time, it’s gained popularity again and today, it actually has become a trend.
You can make countless textile crafts, and you can use different techniques to make them. These techniques vary from using two knitting needles, macrame and many others as well. With any of these techniques, you can create truly beautiful, original and functional pieces. In today’s post, we’ll show you how to make curtains with only your hands, no needles necessary.
Macrame is a technique to make textiles by knotting a set of ropes or string together with your hands. Thus, if you don’t know how to knit, macrame will be a great option for you. Learn how to match different materials, frames and colors together to create a beautiful set of curtains for all the areas of your home.
Materials that you can use
You won’t need too many materials to make these macrame curtains. For the material, feel free to use recycled yarn, wool, rope or waxed thread. You could even combine 2 different materials if you want to give your curtains a more unique personality.
We recommend choosing a considerably thick material for this project. Doing so will cut down the knotting time while helping you make your knots more uniform. You’ll also need a strong measuring stick to use as a supporting frame while you’re knotting away.
Macrame curtains
Macrame, as we mentioned earlier, consists of knotting strings in a pattern, creating a textile. Hang up your measuring stick or rod on the wall and start by knotting each string to the next, knotting them all into a piece of fabric.
Once you’ve finished knotting all the strings, you’ll have a curtain made of your chosen material. Before knotting, prepare long strands of the material because as you knot, they’ll get shorter and shorter. Remember that it’s always easier to deal with leftover material because you can just cut it off.
You can make your macrame curtain by knotting two, three or however many strings you’d prefer at a time. Don’t forget to knot tightly, especially if you’re choosing to work with a thicker material. If you like, you could knot until the mid-line of the curtain, and leave the rest of it as a fringe.
Braided and fringe curtains
Another idea for beautiful curtains is braiding them almost all the way down, then leaving a fringe. Knot the strings as described in the section above, then braid them from top to bottom.
Make the braids as long as you’d like, you could even braid just half of the string’s length. Then, knot the ends and leave the fringe to fall freely towards the floor.
Choose your favorite end
If you want to use a fringe to finish your curtain, you can choose from different ends for your project. The most popular kind of finish is the straight end, but you could also a V end, or a diagonal or an irregular line that you find beautiful. You can make these ends by simply cutting the trailing string with a pair of textile scissors.
Matching materials and colors
You can use different materials together, or just one, and play around with the color palette. A beautiful idea is using white with a contrasting tone and making sure that it goes well with the rest of your home.
In addition, if you’re looking for a small pop of color, you could make your curtain with a white or natural-colored material and paint or dye the ends of your curtain in a vibrant color. It’s a popular idea and will look lovely and original in your home.
Putting your curtains where you want them
Place your curtains in your favorite areas of your home. Try hanging them above a thin window curtain as an accessory piece. You could also use a curtain to divide a room or your home entrance into sections.
On the same note, if you could use another door in one of your bathrooms, you could create a small set of curtains to section off an area without having to buy a new door. Last but not least, another very original idea for your curtains is creating them as a decorative tapestry to hang on your home walls. It’ll give your home a more artisan, Bohemian feel.
As you’ve read today, making your own curtains is easier than it seems. You don’t necessarily need to know how to knit, nor do you need to be a textile professional. You just need to want to work with your hands, creativity and a little imagination to create a fabulous, personal piece of textile art.